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Do you know that feeling, where you think you are not doing anything at all, but time is just flying by? That's exactly what's happening with me this week. It's my last week off before the new job starts and while I don't think I've accomplished all that much, it's already Thursday! So I just made a list in my head with all the things I did do this week.
Monday: Monday I had my farewell lunch from my current job, which was very nice... Other than that I didn't do anything big at all...
Tuesday: We had a two-hour private dancing lesson on Tuesday afternoon, and went training for 3 hours Tuesday evening.
Yesterday evening we had our Argentine Tango class, which thank goodness was more interesting than the last class we had.
Today my parents will be here, arriving shortly as I write this! We'll go shopping and just have a nice time together.
Tomorrow afternoon my boyfriend has taken half a day off from work. If the weather is nice we might go for a walk somewhere. Tomorrow evening we'll go training again for our next dance competition this Saturday.
So it's not like I didn't do anything, it just doesn't feel like a lot! But hey, I have time off right now and I don't *have* to do anything. So I might as well enjoy it :-)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
A night to remember, or to forget...
As I told you we had another dance competition last night, and it was certainly a night to remember, if not for all the wrong reasons!
The day started bad for me, with a headache that was close to a migraine, and in spite of taking way too many painkillers it still wasn't gone completely by the time we had to leave for the competition.
We didn't do all that well during the first round of our class and were sitting, chatting with another dance couple while watching the other classes first round. Then all of the sudden one of the dancers collapsed on the dance floor! Luckily the first aid people arrived quickly and started the reanimation process. The man came to quickly and was taken away for further treatment. Of course the dancing was stopped during all this and to give people a chance to recover from the shock the organizers decided to let another class do their first round first before letting the one where the incident happened complete their round.
So we were all watching this new round, when another dancer collapsed! This time it was way more serious, the man had a heart attack. The organizers called for the first aid people again, but they were away still treating the first man. Somebody ran to fetch them and they finally came and started reanimation again. It didn't work though and they had to get the AED kit for electric reanimation. Of course they had also dialed 112 (the European equivalent of 911). That turned out to be a bit of a disaster too! First the fire brigade arrived and they started their reanimation. Then the police arrived, but they just stood there and watched. Finally, way too late in my opinion, the ambulance arrived. They managed to resuscitate the man and where preparing to take him to hospital. But then the poor man had another heart attack and the whole reanimation process started again. Finally they stabilized him enough to take him to the hospital... We later heard that he's stable now, but I don't know what the slow reaction times of the emergency services have done with him.... I'm also upset with the fact that the first aid people took such a long time to come to the second man's aide... We were discussing later that perhaps the dancing shouldn't have continued until the first aid people had retaken their posts after completing treatment of the first man. Or maybe they should have had more first aid people on site!
Anyway, as you can imagine everybody was quite shocked by what happened. After some deliberation the organizers decided to continue with the competition anyway. But as you can imagine it's a bit hard to dance a happy, quirky, joyful quickstep after all of this! We didn't come home with any prizes this time, but frankly I don't mind at all. Any prize on display would have been a reminder of this evening, and like I said, for all the wrong reasons...
Let's keep this dancer in our minds and hope that he makes a full recovery soon!
The day started bad for me, with a headache that was close to a migraine, and in spite of taking way too many painkillers it still wasn't gone completely by the time we had to leave for the competition.
We didn't do all that well during the first round of our class and were sitting, chatting with another dance couple while watching the other classes first round. Then all of the sudden one of the dancers collapsed on the dance floor! Luckily the first aid people arrived quickly and started the reanimation process. The man came to quickly and was taken away for further treatment. Of course the dancing was stopped during all this and to give people a chance to recover from the shock the organizers decided to let another class do their first round first before letting the one where the incident happened complete their round.
So we were all watching this new round, when another dancer collapsed! This time it was way more serious, the man had a heart attack. The organizers called for the first aid people again, but they were away still treating the first man. Somebody ran to fetch them and they finally came and started reanimation again. It didn't work though and they had to get the AED kit for electric reanimation. Of course they had also dialed 112 (the European equivalent of 911). That turned out to be a bit of a disaster too! First the fire brigade arrived and they started their reanimation. Then the police arrived, but they just stood there and watched. Finally, way too late in my opinion, the ambulance arrived. They managed to resuscitate the man and where preparing to take him to hospital. But then the poor man had another heart attack and the whole reanimation process started again. Finally they stabilized him enough to take him to the hospital... We later heard that he's stable now, but I don't know what the slow reaction times of the emergency services have done with him.... I'm also upset with the fact that the first aid people took such a long time to come to the second man's aide... We were discussing later that perhaps the dancing shouldn't have continued until the first aid people had retaken their posts after completing treatment of the first man. Or maybe they should have had more first aid people on site!
Anyway, as you can imagine everybody was quite shocked by what happened. After some deliberation the organizers decided to continue with the competition anyway. But as you can imagine it's a bit hard to dance a happy, quirky, joyful quickstep after all of this! We didn't come home with any prizes this time, but frankly I don't mind at all. Any prize on display would have been a reminder of this evening, and like I said, for all the wrong reasons...
Let's keep this dancer in our minds and hope that he makes a full recovery soon!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Spirit of the Dance
Thursday evening we went to see the dance show "Spirit of the Dance" in our local theatre. This Irish dance show, based on the original Irish dance show with Michael Flatley, had been on my list of things-I-want-to-see for a long time, so my expectations were high!
The show is definitely worth seeing! The light effects are amazing and the choreography is very well done. The dancing wasn't superb, but good enough. I certainly couldn't have done better ;-)
We spoke to the driver of the dancers during the break and he told us that this group, about 25 people out of the total of 350 members of the Spirit of the Dance team, was the youngest group of all touring groups. They had their last performance for the season in The Netherlands yesterday, but are still touring other countries!
Today I can put on my dancing shoes for another competition. I don't think we're going to win prizes in this one, it's a tough one, with really good dancers. But it will be good practice anyway, and one day we will make it to the nr. 1 spot there as well! Just watch this space! ;-)
The show is definitely worth seeing! The light effects are amazing and the choreography is very well done. The dancing wasn't superb, but good enough. I certainly couldn't have done better ;-)
We spoke to the driver of the dancers during the break and he told us that this group, about 25 people out of the total of 350 members of the Spirit of the Dance team, was the youngest group of all touring groups. They had their last performance for the season in The Netherlands yesterday, but are still touring other countries!
Today I can put on my dancing shoes for another competition. I don't think we're going to win prizes in this one, it's a tough one, with really good dancers. But it will be good practice anyway, and one day we will make it to the nr. 1 spot there as well! Just watch this space! ;-)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
If I were a rich (wo)man....
With all the fuss about the Italian mega jackpot in the news right now and me living my days as a lady of leisure until the 3rd of November when I start my new job I started thinking again about how I'd fill my life if I were really, really rich...
Well first of all I hope I'd be rich enough so that both my partner and I could give up work. Sitting at home alone for these past 2 weeks has shown me that it's much more fun to have somebody to share the free time with!
We would probably look for a new house, somewhere quiet, close to a forest where we could start living together in a nice way. Travel would also be on the cards, as it's something we both enjoy doing (even though I don't like being away from home for too long!).
Since I cannot handle doing nothing, I would most likely continue and expand my voluntary work. There would be no botox or lipo treatments for me, but I might get a personal trainer. And of course there would be lots of dancing, probably even our own practice area in the house!
It's fun to dream, isn't it... And I do play in pretty much every type of lottery we have over here. So it could happen, it could be me one day! But until that day, we'll just get on with our current life, which is pretty nice as it is. And sneak in the occasional dream of course...
Well first of all I hope I'd be rich enough so that both my partner and I could give up work. Sitting at home alone for these past 2 weeks has shown me that it's much more fun to have somebody to share the free time with!
We would probably look for a new house, somewhere quiet, close to a forest where we could start living together in a nice way. Travel would also be on the cards, as it's something we both enjoy doing (even though I don't like being away from home for too long!).
Since I cannot handle doing nothing, I would most likely continue and expand my voluntary work. There would be no botox or lipo treatments for me, but I might get a personal trainer. And of course there would be lots of dancing, probably even our own practice area in the house!
It's fun to dream, isn't it... And I do play in pretty much every type of lottery we have over here. So it could happen, it could be me one day! But until that day, we'll just get on with our current life, which is pretty nice as it is. And sneak in the occasional dream of course...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
I could have danced all night...
... well I pretty much did! We didn't get home from the competition until 2am, but what a start of the new season! We came first in both Latin and Ballroom! As usual I didn't think I did that well and I was surprised to even make it to the final round. So you can imagine my surprise when we came 1st twice! The nice thing about this particular competition is that it was held at the rival dance school in my home town. Always nice to beat them :-)
This afternoon we will go to the Tea 'n Dance at our dance school, then out for a quick bite to eat and back to the dance school for our regular weekly lesson. Several people from our class came to see us last night and they took a few pictures which we should get from them this evening. If there's a nice one, I'll post it underneath this blog later!
For now, feet up and relax! There's more dancing to come today and I want to be ready for it!
This afternoon we will go to the Tea 'n Dance at our dance school, then out for a quick bite to eat and back to the dance school for our regular weekly lesson. Several people from our class came to see us last night and they took a few pictures which we should get from them this evening. If there's a nice one, I'll post it underneath this blog later!
For now, feet up and relax! There's more dancing to come today and I want to be ready for it!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
US Elections
Short blog today, as I'm preparing for our dance competition tonight...
The fact that the election for a new US President is upon us in just a few weeks now has probably escaped nobody's attention. One thought that keeps running around my head is the following:
If the American President is considered by so many people to be the most powerful man in the world, then why don't all residents of this planet have a vote in (t)his election?
Your thoughts please!
The fact that the election for a new US President is upon us in just a few weeks now has probably escaped nobody's attention. One thought that keeps running around my head is the following:
If the American President is considered by so many people to be the most powerful man in the world, then why don't all residents of this planet have a vote in (t)his election?
Your thoughts please!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Cats and emotions
As some of you know, I share my life with two cats, and have been around cats for most of my life. Having lived so closely with them, it didn't surprise me at all when research found that cats actually do have emotions.
I have had a cat that grieved, truly grieved when her brother was hit by a car and died. She would just sit in the hallway, sighing, and wouldn't eat...
I'm convinced that cats can feel love. One of my current cats is especially skillful in expressing that, to the extent that it gets really annoying at times! This same cat also has a talent for showing when he's unhappy. He kinda lowers his whiskers and I swear that he knows how to lower the corners of his mouth to make him look even more upset.
Having shared my life with multiple cats at the same time, I've most definitely also seen jealousy, when one cat thought the other was getting too much attention.
Anger or fear I noticed recently when I tried to douse a cat-burglar (neighbor's cat who likes the food my cats have better and tries to visit us) with a bucket of water. The first time I tried dousing the cat with water I ended up bleeding to such an extent that I almost needed stitches. But the second and third time I won, and the cat ended up soaking wet... He still tries to visit, but as soon as he sees me he runs. Ha!
Below a picture of my current two sweeties when they were still kittens...
I have had a cat that grieved, truly grieved when her brother was hit by a car and died. She would just sit in the hallway, sighing, and wouldn't eat...
I'm convinced that cats can feel love. One of my current cats is especially skillful in expressing that, to the extent that it gets really annoying at times! This same cat also has a talent for showing when he's unhappy. He kinda lowers his whiskers and I swear that he knows how to lower the corners of his mouth to make him look even more upset.
Having shared my life with multiple cats at the same time, I've most definitely also seen jealousy, when one cat thought the other was getting too much attention.
Anger or fear I noticed recently when I tried to douse a cat-burglar (neighbor's cat who likes the food my cats have better and tries to visit us) with a bucket of water. The first time I tried dousing the cat with water I ended up bleeding to such an extent that I almost needed stitches. But the second and third time I won, and the cat ended up soaking wet... He still tries to visit, but as soon as he sees me he runs. Ha!
Below a picture of my current two sweeties when they were still kittens...
Monday, October 13, 2008
Avoiding the winter blues
It's only October and we just went through a few very springlike days... I don't really suffer from the winter blues like some people do, but I do appreciate a bit of sunshine and vitamine D during the winter months.
So I've started looking at brochures with sunny beaches, exotic places and allowed my mind to wander for a bit... However... I also need to replace my central heating unit, and the chimney of my fire place is 'leaking' as well. So no dinero for a luxury exotic vacation... We know when we want to go, and we know that we like quiet, authentic places, not too touristy, nice climate, offering a good mix of culture and relaxation and a bit of action when we feel like it...
Right now I have my eyes on Morocco, but it could just as well turn out to be Malta, Malaga or Madeira. And no, it doesn't have to start with an 'M' ;-) Suggestions are welcome of course!
So I've started looking at brochures with sunny beaches, exotic places and allowed my mind to wander for a bit... However... I also need to replace my central heating unit, and the chimney of my fire place is 'leaking' as well. So no dinero for a luxury exotic vacation... We know when we want to go, and we know that we like quiet, authentic places, not too touristy, nice climate, offering a good mix of culture and relaxation and a bit of action when we feel like it...
Right now I have my eyes on Morocco, but it could just as well turn out to be Malta, Malaga or Madeira. And no, it doesn't have to start with an 'M' ;-) Suggestions are welcome of course!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The sound of silence...
I don't know if it has anything to do with getting older, but I'm finding more and more that I enjoy the sound of silence. Quietness, peace of mind, silence...
It's probably a good thing my boyfriend and I don't have children, nor do we have plans to have any in the future. Nothing against those of you with a family, I think it's good that you do, but it's not my cup of tea. I think we can all agree that children certainly take a lot of the "quiet" out of your life. Of course, they also give a lot in return and it's just wonderful to see them grow and develop themselves... but the quietness of your life - if there was any to start with! ;-) - will certainly need to be put on hold for a while...
Most of us have busy jobs, and training is certainly a job that puts you in the middle of a bunch of people. And that's ok for me, as long as there's the quietness, the solitude to look forward to when I get back home. Being among people gives me energy, which would label me as an extrovert according to Myers-Briggs. But at the same time I also need time alone, or time with my partner who is - thank goodness - also somebody who can enjoy quiet time. An advantage of being "like this" is that I don't have a big problem with traffic jams. As long as I have some nice music and can let my mind wander. (And as long as I don't have an urgent appointment to go to, because I hate being late anywhere!).
Right now it's Sunday evening and I'm writing this with a glass of wine next to me, after a family weekend with lots of driving and people around me, completed with our Sunday evening dancing class. It was a fun weekend, and at the same time I enjoy the peace of this moment...
It's probably a good thing my boyfriend and I don't have children, nor do we have plans to have any in the future. Nothing against those of you with a family, I think it's good that you do, but it's not my cup of tea. I think we can all agree that children certainly take a lot of the "quiet" out of your life. Of course, they also give a lot in return and it's just wonderful to see them grow and develop themselves... but the quietness of your life - if there was any to start with! ;-) - will certainly need to be put on hold for a while...
Most of us have busy jobs, and training is certainly a job that puts you in the middle of a bunch of people. And that's ok for me, as long as there's the quietness, the solitude to look forward to when I get back home. Being among people gives me energy, which would label me as an extrovert according to Myers-Briggs. But at the same time I also need time alone, or time with my partner who is - thank goodness - also somebody who can enjoy quiet time. An advantage of being "like this" is that I don't have a big problem with traffic jams. As long as I have some nice music and can let my mind wander. (And as long as I don't have an urgent appointment to go to, because I hate being late anywhere!).
Right now it's Sunday evening and I'm writing this with a glass of wine next to me, after a family weekend with lots of driving and people around me, completed with our Sunday evening dancing class. It was a fun weekend, and at the same time I enjoy the peace of this moment...
Friday, October 10, 2008
Efteling
Today my boyfriend and I went to the Efteling (a themed amusement park for those of you who don't know it). It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the temperature was very nice, almost springlike. Since most people are at work and the kids in school on a weekday, there were almost no lines/queues for any of the rides. The most we had to wait was about 10 minutes, for the newest ride: the Flying Dutchman. And it was most definitely worth the wait! This must have been my 8th or 9th trip to the Efteling, and I simply do not get bored with the place.... The Dreamflight is awe-inspiring, with its fairies, trolls, planetcities.... The fairy tale forest remains cute, the pirana ride made me look as if I hadn't made it to the bathroom in time, the bobsleigh ride, fata morgana, vogel Rok.... all of them a great experience! Maybe the fast rides aren't as cool as the ones you experience in Disneyland or Six Flags, but the care the Efteling has taken in its themes is clearly visible and it remains one of my favorite theme parks in the world! Go see if if you can!
(Pictures below are from the Dreamflight (Droomvlucht) ride)
(Pictures below are from the Dreamflight (Droomvlucht) ride)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Another one bites the dust...
So today was my last day at this job, and what a day it was... I won't go into details here, this is the internet after all, but I can tell you that the stuff that happens at this place has left me flabbergasted (love that word) more than once. And today was certainly one of those days. All in all I've learned a lot there... a lot of good things, but certainly also how things should not be done :-) At least not according to Tink's Law.
On the positive side I finally got an email that my new Latin dance shows are on their way to my feet. This is great news, because as of the 18th of October I'll have three dance competitions on 3 consequetive Saturdays, two of which will include Latin American dancing. So far I've done all my dancing and competitions on ballroom shoes. And during the competition on the 18th there's a good chance that we'll get promoted to the next level if we make it to the final round. And of course I want to wear the right shoes for that!
On the positive side I finally got an email that my new Latin dance shows are on their way to my feet. This is great news, because as of the 18th of October I'll have three dance competitions on 3 consequetive Saturdays, two of which will include Latin American dancing. So far I've done all my dancing and competitions on ballroom shoes. And during the competition on the 18th there's a good chance that we'll get promoted to the next level if we make it to the final round. And of course I want to wear the right shoes for that!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
In between jobs
At the moment I'm kinda in-between jobs... Tomorrow I'll be handing over my laptop, phone, keys etc. to my current employer and on the 1st of November I'll start my new job as senior learning consultant for a training company. Right now I'm at home, cleaning up the hard drive of my laptop, mailbox and phone memory while watching the financial crisis news on CNN.
So what to do during the 3 weeks off? There are still boxes to unpack from my move nearly 1 1/2 year ago... There's always tidying up to do as I'm not the most organized person when it comes to housekeeping... My boyfriend has several vacation days left for the year, so we could take some time off together... I need to get a new central heating system and my fireplace is 'leaking' so that needs to get fixed... There's weeds growing in my garden that are by now taller than I am... My wardrobe is too full and needs sorting out... There are friends to see and/or write and/or call...
But for now I don't get much further than watching the news and wondering what this is going to mean for us all. It's history in the making, for sure, but not a piece of history that a lot of people were hoping for. I have only just become active on the stock market, but my thoughts are with all those people that see their savings and retirement money go down the drain. Let's hope things recover soon and that the world has learned another valueable lesson...
So what to do during the 3 weeks off? There are still boxes to unpack from my move nearly 1 1/2 year ago... There's always tidying up to do as I'm not the most organized person when it comes to housekeeping... My boyfriend has several vacation days left for the year, so we could take some time off together... I need to get a new central heating system and my fireplace is 'leaking' so that needs to get fixed... There's weeds growing in my garden that are by now taller than I am... My wardrobe is too full and needs sorting out... There are friends to see and/or write and/or call...
But for now I don't get much further than watching the news and wondering what this is going to mean for us all. It's history in the making, for sure, but not a piece of history that a lot of people were hoping for. I have only just become active on the stock market, but my thoughts are with all those people that see their savings and retirement money go down the drain. Let's hope things recover soon and that the world has learned another valueable lesson...
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